1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a computer-implemented decision-making system and method that enables a decision maker to formulate strategies and tactics, by dividing completed or potential courses of action into irreducible units called “plays,” and/or by utilizing three kinds of third-parties, referred-to herein as “surrogates.” The plays and surrogates are presented as symbols or icons organized into a taxonomic table, with definitions and information useful in selecting the plays associated with and accessible through the symbols or icons.
In addition to the taxonomic table, the invention provides a methodology that helps decision makers sequence and pattern their moves or plays, and a resource that lists “factors” that influence plays and helps the decision maker fine tune the course of action.
In order to utilize the invention, a decision-maker selects plays and/or surrogates from the table and places symbols or icons representing the plays and/or surrogates on a template or whiteboard. Play selection is guided by the methodology, which in the preferred embodiment includes five steps, and by the listed factors. The result is a course of action, or map, including a sequence of plays (and/or surrogates) and corresponding information, that can be saved, edited, or published.
The system and method of the invention, including the table of plays and surrogates, the five-step methodology, and the list of factors, may be implemented as a website accessible by decision makers in a wide variety of fields including, by way of example and not limitation, management, strategy, marketing, sales, public affairs, advertising, public relations, media, and law. It is especially suitable for use in the context of business or commerce, but also is applicable to politics and any other field where decisions must be made, usually for the purpose of influencing a person or organization and collections thereof.
An in-depth description of the principles underlying the invention, as well as detailed descriptions of each of the plays and surrogates mentioned herein, is found in Elements of Influence by the Inventor, Alan Kelly, published in October, 2006 by Dutton Books, a division of Penguin Publishing USA, and incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
The concept of a general decision making tool that reduces the process of decision-making and planning of strategy to a system that can be implemented on a website is believed to be unique. While “expert systems” designed to solve problems in specific fields are well-known, and while all such problem-solving ultimately involves common underlying principles, the Inventor is the first person to reduce those principles to a form, and in particular a finite set of irreducible “plays,” that can be used by decision makers and planners in any field, for virtually any decision that needs to be made or plan to be developed.
A play, as defined by the Inventor, is a strategem, i.e., one of a finite set of discrete strategic maneuvers a person or organization employs to improve its relative competitive position in a “marketplace.” The term “marketplace” as used herein refers to a broad playing field that encompasses all types of business or activities that might involve competition, from the public to the private sector, from governments to institutions to venture start-ups and individuals, and from not-for-profits to profiteers.
Basically, the invention involves a comprehensive set of moves and counter-moves that people and organizations might employ in business, politics and popular culture, defining the “plays” that a decision maker runs on allies and rivals alike, and exposing the plays that allies and rivals in turn run on the decision maker. Individuals and organizations have always run plays, and particular plays have always been subject to in depth analysis. However, it has not heretofore been possible to categorize and present the plays in a way that is generally applicable and yet presentable on a web-site.
Examples of conventional expert systems are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,850,923; 6,847,957; and 5,481,647. Such systems can be very useful in particular applications. However, they do not provide the versatility of the present invention, which is not limited to a particular application but has much wider applicability. The reason is that while conventional expert systems involve knowledge databases and rules for accessing the databases, so that a previously stored answer can be associated with a question or problem, the present invention seeks to provide guidelines and templates to guide the decision-making process, rather than particular rules or answers to specific problems. In other words, whereas expert systems provide predetermined answers to specific questions, the present invention provides general rules that can be adapted to completely novel situations or contexts. If a conventional expert system is analogous to a human consultant hired to solve a particular problem based on his or her previous experience, the system and method of the invention is analogous to hiring Socrates, who might not know anything about the particular situation or context but will ask the right questions, based on a knowledge of decision making in general rather than on specific experience, to enable the decision maker to arrive at the best possible solution.